by Gabriele Gallo
REGGIO EMILIA
A mother from the Reggio Emilia area is reporting the situation with great bitterness but equally determination. But the issue is on the agenda in much of the region: the difficulty of being able to attend summer activities for children with disabilities, in particular those affected by autism spectrum disorders. This is why Sara Balotta, a combative 40-year-old mother from Barco di Bibbiano, speaks openly about “discrimination”. The woman reported the situation to Carlino di Reggio, highlighting that “the average cost of a summer camp in Italy is between 100 and 150 euros per week. If you are disabled you must have support and therefore an extra cost, paid by the parent , of around 100 euros per day. That makes it 650 euros per week for 5 hours, so just for the morning. Now tell me if this isn’t discrimination.”
Sara has two children, aged 3 and 5; her eldest has been diagnosed with level 2 autism with severe hyperactivity. From that moment on, her battle began to raise awareness among citizens and institutions on the subject, also through a follow-up blog, in which she reports all her daily problems. Because, she says, “we cannot stop fighting and reporting”. Even the difficulties of accessing summer camps, “places of meeting, playing, discovery and growth, which however – continues Balotta – in addition to a truly excessive cost, are also discriminatory towards disabilities. Yes because, when you have a disabled child not always both parents work, often only one works and therefore economic resources are inevitably limited”. So much so that this young mother had to give up her dream job to look after her baby.
A similar situation in Reggio is also experienced in municipal or affiliated nursery schools and nursery schools, where places for summer activities in the month of July are limited. And for this reason another family reported the fact that priority is given to those couples where both parents work while those who have a child with a disability remain excluded. It is the subject of the letter from spouses Giulia Bonesi and Lucio di Rosa, parents of Edoardo, 4 years old in May. The child has received the diagnosis of “autism spectrum disorder” and the parents complain in particular that in Reggio no places have been “reserved for disabled children who need a support educator”. So “in July our son will not access the summer service, because only one parent works in our family” due to the fact that the mother has taken on the role of care-giver, taking care of Edoardo’s duties on a daily basis. “A commitment – they write – big and not recognized by the institutions, not only in terms of time but also emotionally”. Edoardo’s parents don’t like the fact that “in Reggio, the city of the most beautiful people and kindergartens in the world, not even an affiliated educator is provided in case we send him to a summer camp”.
Nando Rinaldi, director of the nursery and nursery school institution of the municipality of Reggio, intervenes on the topic: “The summer activity is extraordinary so there are fewer structures for this service and fewer places available. I understand and understand the situations in which one of the parents has the role of care-giver, but with the resources we have it is not possible to please everyone. As a Municipality we are trying to find the funds to make a contribution to the families”.
